All photos copyrighted by this site… please ask if you would like to use one!

Menu

B-U-D-G-E-T is a four-letter word.

So in the interest of full disclosure… this whole “wedding planning” thing isn’t going exactly how I thought it would. Here is what I thought would happen:

I’d get engaged, somehow I would magically know what to do and where to go and what to buy, I’d have a ton of fun doing crafty DIY stuff and in the end I’d pull off an awesomely chic wedding and come in way under budget.

Aren’t dreams nice?

I had noooooo clue how much stuff costs. Specifically food for the reception. Pretty immediately, B and I set a budget of $10,000 for the wedding. We figured that was the amount that we could save in a year if we worked at it, and honestly who needs to spend more than $10,000 on one day anyways right? That seemed like PLENTY of money to throw a kick-ass party for 100 of our closest friends and family.

I was so stupid!

We started looking at the venues we had in mind and found that our top choice would cost us about $8,000-9,000 just for the venue, food, and alcohol. Woah. I went to theknot.com and used their budgeting tool because I didn’t even know what items I should include in the budget… and discovered that the most we can spend is really $5,000 on the venue, food, alcohol, rentals, service charges, and taxes. For 100 people. And that is if we skimp on everything else!

When we realized that we hadn’t even thought about a rehearsal dinner, wedding bands, or a honeymoon… well… I started to panic a little. We decided we could do pizza for a rehearsal and a honeymoon would just have to wait. As for rings.. I didn’t want to think about it.

Luckily a week or so later my mom very graciously offered us some money. She wasn’t sure exactly what her and my dad could get together but she thought about $5,000-7,000. Talk about generous! I was totally blown away because I didn’t expect any help… and in all honesty I feel badly accepting it. She convinced me that they want to do this and I graciously accepted. What this really means is that a rehearsal dinner and rings are back on the table… and maybe a honeymoon.

I wish this meant that everything was easy now, but it isn’t. Throwing a wedding for 100 on $10,000 is still no easy feat… but I’m up to the challenge. I have lots more to say on this subject and I’m sure that some days I’ll feel differently, but for today I am confident. I will pull it off. I will negotiate, beg, borrow, and ste… okay I won’t steal. Even brides-to-be have a line. 🙂

My most exciting update is that I have a MOH!! (Hi MOH!) She and I went to law school together for one year before she moved away (then moved further away). Regardless, we talk basically every day and she has helped me out so much in the 4+ years that we’ve been friends. She even helped B pick out my beautiful ring! I’m so excited to have her as my MOH/keep-me-sane-when-everyone-else-is-driving-me-nuts-person (the latter of which, of course, is a title she already held).